


Love Is A Broken Elevator

by painted_pain



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Romance, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 21:51:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_pain/pseuds/painted_pain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared decides that making the elevator break down on a regular basis is an excellent idea and is therefore not creepy at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love Is A Broken Elevator

**Author's Note:**

> Written for spn_j2_xmas.livejournal.com. My recipient was tigerist. I took your prompt of "J2 AU, Jared and Jensen are neighbors/live in the same building and run into each other all the time" and combined it with some schmoop and romance. We'll see how well it turned out! I do hope you like it.
> 
> Thanks must go to my wonderful betas, cassandra_leeds and ilfirin_estel.

When Jared comes in to the apartment building after his morning run, the first thing he hears is a clang, like a foot has hitting the grail of the old-fashioned elevator, and a voice on the edge of anger. 

“Goddammit, not again!”

Jared doesn’t look at where Jensen stands fuming, even though he desperately wants to. He opens his mailbox, grabbing whatever mail is there, and then makes his way over, offering a small wave when Jensen turns to face him. 

“Morning, man. What’s up?” Jared asks. He schools his face because he wants to giggle. He knows exactly what’s up. 

Jensen sighs, sending a menacing glare to the elevator.

“Damn thing’s broke again.” He goes to kick it again and then thinks better of it, rubbing his hand over his face. Jared notices he looks really tired, bags under his eyes and mouth creased in exhaustion. Jared tries very hard not to feel bad that even now he still thinks Jensen is the most attractive thing he’s ever seen.

“Gonna have to yell at Misha about it,” Jensen mutters, sighing again and then shuffling over to the office Misha occupies, very, very rarely.

Jared panics.

“Hey, Jensen, no need. You know he’s not going to be there until at least after lunch, if he shows up at all. And besides, I can fix it up.”

Jensen stops mid-shuffle and turns to face him. It feels like a shock when his eyes meet Jared’s and a shiver works down his spine. Jensen looks him up and down sceptically. Jared doesn’t take it personally, although he wishes he could melt into the floor just to disappear. He’s suddenly very aware of his sweat-drenched clothes. He resists the urge to grimace, hands fidgeting with the hem of his t-shirt.

“You?” Jensen raises a pointed eyebrow. 

“Um, certified mechanical engineer.” Jared gives an incredibly dorky wave that he regrets immediately. “I know how mechanical stuff works, “he offers. “And I’ve fixed the elevator before.”

“But you’re just a kid. A very big muscular kid, but still.”

Jared can’t help it; he bursts into a fit of giggles. He doesn’t even know why and oh God, Jensen thinks he’s a _kid_ , that explains so much. His giggles sound a little hysterical but at least Jensen has noticed that Jared works out, that counts for something, right?

He calms down enough to be able to say, “I’m actually twenty-seven, so.”

Jensen mouth drops open and then he flushes a brilliant bright, bright red. He closes his eyes. “I am very sorry,” he grits out. “Jesus.”

Jared likes the blush on Jensen’s cheeks. He’d like to taste it, see how warm it feels. And then he promptly forgets to keep giggling. 

“Let’s be honest, I do bounce around like a young teenager half the time,” Jared willingly admits, slightly sheepish. He’s been told it’s part of his charm by most of his friends. He knows it endears people to him, so sometimes he’ll employ it in a calculated manner. Maybe he’d been doing it too much around Jensen.

“Yeah.” Jensen still hasn’t opened his eyes. Jared keeps looking, his eyes lingering on Jensen’s eyes, his mouth, oh God, his _mouth_. Jared licks his lips and then Jensen’s eyes snap open. Jared clears his throat, looking away. He bounces a little on his feet.

Jensen starts walking over to the stairs.

“So, how was work?” Jared asks, unwilling to let this opportunity slip between his fingers.

Jensen glances over at him and then looks up the flight of stairs with a heavy look. It’s just a little bit disheartening but Jared refuses to back down. He is a joy to be around and they both live on the fifth floor, so until Jensen tells him to fuck off, Jared will continue to chat with him.

“Fine. Just long,” Jensen grunts, demeanour almost surly.

Okay. Or continue to chat _at_ him, as the case may be.

“Dude, that sucks.”

“Mmm.” Jensen nods and plods his way methodically up the stairs. 

“Yeah. I mean, I work the regular nine to five, but I still get exhausted afterwards. It’s fine, I don’t mind having predictable hours, you know? I have a good job, doing something I love. Besides, I’m a morning person. I get up at five every morning and go for my run.” Jared knows he’s babbling, but he can’t stop, he doesn’t even want to. Maybe if he keeps talking, he’ll say something that will make Jensen shove him up against a wall to kiss him – 

Jensen stops on the stairs and turns to look at Jared incredulously.

“ _Five_? In the _morning_?” His voice speaks volumes about how much he disapproves.

“Well, yeah.” Jared chuckles self-consciously. “This body didn’t just magically appear. I have to work at it. I have to fit in my work-out around work, and it’s easier doing it in the morning.”

Jensen looks him up and down, skimming along his legs and arms. Jared flexes his muscles a little bit, a warm thrill dancing along his skin when Jensen’s eyes widen a little.

Jensen clears his throat and then continues walking up the stairs. Jared tries not to feel disappointed. They walk up the rest of the stairs in silence and Jared barely gets the time to say goodbye, a casual _see you around_ , which Jensen returns with a grunt, before the door slams behind him. Jared sighs heavily and leans his forehead against the cool wood of his door. His skin slides, still slick with sweat. He lifts up his arm to give himself a sniff and curls his mouth up in disgust. Yeah, no wonder Jensen just disappeared into his apartment.

It won’t stop Jared from talking to him, though. It’s a ridiculous, unrequited crush. It should end there and yet – 

It’s that ‘and yet’ which makes Jared want to keep trying. To make Jensen laugh, perhaps, to make him smile. To make him happy.

Okay, so maybe it’s more than a crush.

After all, Jared is the one who is breaking the elevator just so he can walk Jensen up to his apartment in the morning.

“This is not going to end well,” he mutters as he pulls his key out of his pocket and lets himself in.

~*~

When Jared moved in, just over two months ago, the first thing he did was make his Mama’s world-renowned chocolate fudge brownies and then hand them out to the people living on his floor and the building supervisor, because his Mama raised him right.

The building supervisor, Misha, was one of the weirdest people Jared had ever met. He knocked on Misha’s door and when it opened, a cloud of smoke billowed out, causing Jared to cough and cough and cough. 

“Hey, Jared.” Misha greeted him with a laconic smile and a blunt in his hand. 

“I – I brought brownies?” Jared wheezed, unsure, offering the plate.

“Oh, sweeeeeeet. Are they hash brownies?” Misha took the plate and immediately shoved half of a brownie in his mouth, the smoke from the blunt spiralling out to wrap around Jared.

“What? No!”

Misha shrugged. “Doesn’t matter,” he said around his mouthful. “Because these are delicious. You’re totally my favourite now. Don’t forget to bring some to Jensen, he’ll love you forever.” And with that he closed the door, leaving Jared with his head spinning and feeling just that little bit high.

“Jensen?” he asks himself.

(His Mama rang that evening and asked if his building supervisor was alright, treating him decently. Said _what’s his name, oh yes, Misha – so unusual_ , and Jared near choked on his beer. ared could only say, completely without irony, that Misha was one of the most laidback and relaxed people he had ever met. )

He had then made his way back up to his floor on the rickety elevator, swearing to himself that he would never take it again, and knocked on the three doors next to his own. He talked to a lovely old lady, Doris, who pinched his cheeks and called him a sweetheart. Jared could admit to himself freely that he had that effect on older women and it meant that he had always been well fed by the two sisters who had lived next to his childhood home. Doris made him promise that he would stop by for a cup of tea every Sunday. Eventually, he ended up doing her grocery shopping for her, especially when the elevator ‘broke down’, as his guilty conscience wouldn’t let him do anything else. 

(He always does messes with the elevator in the morning, really early, and he knows Doris will never use it then but just in case. Just in case.)

Nobody answered the second door and when he knocked on the third, he was about to walk away with more brownies for himself to scoff, the door opened to reveal a man wrapped in a towel, water dripping down his torso, droplets curving around his nipples. Wearing _glasses_. Jared swallowed. And then swallowed again, struggling to find his voice.

“Yes?” the man demanded, in an irritated voice.

“Umm,” Jared squeaked. “’M Jared, just moved in down the hall. Have some brownies!” And then he thrust the two plates of brownies at the man, pasting his most winning smile across his face.

“Oh.” The man’s face softened as he took the brownies. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

They stood there looking at each other. Jared, in his defence, was trying to figure out what shade of green the man’s eyes were, and reassured himself that he’s generally a lot more smooth. He gives himself a free pass this time because _half-naked, wet, very attractive man._

“I’m Jensen,” Jensen said, voice lilting up at the end so it sounded like a question.

“Jensen?” Jared repeated, disbelievingly. And then he blushed, because oh my God, what the hell, Misha?

“I’m Jared,” he rushed, completely caught out. And then he wanted to smack himself across the face. “I mean – I already said that, sorry.”

Jensen looked endearingly bemused.

“I am. I’m just going to go. Over there.” And then Jared walked briskly back to his apartment, shut the door behind him and promptly rang his best friend, Genevieve, and the ensuing conversation went as follows:

“He’s so gorgeous, oh my god –

“ – his eyes, they’re so green – 

“ I made such a fool of myself, I am an idiot – 

“ –he is _perfect_ , I swear, Genevieve – 

“ – _glasses_ – “

And that was how he met Jensen.

~*~

The next time Jared stumbles across Jensen is at the mailboxes by the entrance the following afternoon. The afternoon light filters through the glass and surrounds Jensen, and Jared feels his heart stop in his chest. He looks up then, from whatever it is he’s reading, and gives Jared a smile in greeting. Be cool, Jared thinks to himself, be _cool_ , and then promptly trips over his own feet. He ploughs into Jensen and knocks him to the floor. The resounding thump of their bodies hitting the floor has Misha peering out from the office.

“No sexual foreplay or violence in the foyer, please,” he says with a knowing smirk, one that verges on a leer, before disappearing back into the depths of his office, leaving Jensen and Jared staring at each other in shock.

“What – “Jared begins to say.

“Get off me, Jared. Jesus, you weigh a ton,” Jensen interrupts.

Jared scrambles up off of Jensen, ignoring how comfortable it was to lie on top of him, how _right_ it felt, how they slotted together like two perfect pieces of the same puzzle. Jared offers his hand and Jensen looks at it for a long moment, leaving Jared freaking out that he’s offended him, before grabbing it and heaving himself up to his feet.

“Did I hurt you at all? I know I’m a big ole lump.” He huffs out a weak laugh. Jensen doesn’t laugh back. Jared’s face falls. “I really am sorry, Jensen.”

“It’s fine,” Jensen says dismissively, bending down to pick up his fallen mail. Jared goes to help him and Jensen repeats himself. 

“I said, it’s _fine_.”

“Right, yeah, sorry,” Jared says in a small voice. He steps back, tries to stay out of Jensen’s way.

This encounter was the reason why Jared’s friends think Jensen is a dick. But Jared never told them that about two hours later, Jared received a knock on his door. He opened it to find a basket of chocolate chip cookies on his doormat and a letter placed on top of it. He picked up the letter and very nearly swooned, glad that he was leaning against the doorway.

 _Jared,_ it read, _Sorry about earlier. I’m not very good with people, especially when I haven’t had enough sleep or enough coffee. I was kind of a dick. Have some apology cookies. Jensen._

The letter feels like something private, something not to be shared, so Jared never does. And it’s the reason why Jared keeps talking to Jensen, and doesn’t give up hope.

And then the lift breaks. 

(Jared doesn’t have anything to do with it. This time)

~*~

“Ah, shit,” is the first thing that Jared hears when he comes in after his run. Jensen is staring forlornly at the elevator, looking shattered.

“Hey,” Jared calls. 

Jensen turns to face him and then turns back. The tips of his ears go a little red and he clears his throat. Jared thinks it’s adorable.

“Hey,” Jensen replies gruffly. Jared can’t help but smile.

“What’s going on?”

“Elevator is broken. Man, I am too tired to walk up all those stairs.” Jensen says it despondently, with an added slump to his shoulders. Jared reaches out to poke them. Jensen startles.

“Big, strong man like you?” Jared grins, fluttering his eyelashes. “I’m sure you can manage it.”

Jensen laughs and it sounds perfect. Jared needs Jensen to laugh all the time. His eyes crinkle and his smile lights up his face. He looks all of six years old and how is that even _possible?_

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Jensen grumbles, but his pleased smile belies his words.

“You only getting in now?” Jared asks as they make their way up the stairs.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that sounds like fun.”

Jensen shrugs his shoulder and Jared wants to kiss him breathless.

“I own a bar.”

“Get out. You are now so much cooler than I thought you were.”

Jensen shoves him a little bit. Jared carefully keeps his smile small. His heart is beating hard enough that it might burst out of his chest.

“I am really cool, okay, kiddo.”

“I’ve seen you with glasses, you _old man_.”

“Ah fuck,” Jensen says, grimacing. “I’d forgotten about that. You realise how lucky you are, right?” Jensen smirks at Jared but Jared must be smiling too softly, too fondly, because Jensen freezes and then clams up.

“Uh, okay.” Jensen looks incredibly relieved to have reached their floor and he rushes over to his door, leaving Jared feeling like the rug has been pulled out from underneath his feet. And then Jensen stops at the door, breathes deep, squares his shoulders and turns around.

“Did you like the cookies?” He offers Jared a tentative smile.

“Yeah.” Jared’s voice is slightly hoarse. “They were really awesome.”

“Good,” Jensen says softly. “Good.” With one last smile, Jensen is gone.

And then Jared decides that making the elevator continue to break down is an excellent idea. One that will never go wrong. 

(He heads down to Misha to say he can fix the elevator and he looks at Jared knowingly, with that smirk. Jared sits down in the chair opposite him and over the next half hour, gets another contact high from the weed Misha has been smoking. He wonders how Misha still has a job, sometimes. Not that he’s complaining, because his master plan would fail spectacularly if his building supervisor was anybody else. And maybe after his tea with Doris, he spends the afternoon in the office, giggling over the ridiculous things Misha comes up with. And maybe he shares a blunt or two. Sometimes, when he leaves in a cloud of smoke, Misha tells him not to give up hope. Jared rolls his eyes and pretends that he doesn’t know what Misha is talking about, but he views it as an unspoken agreement that Jared can keep doing what he’s doing.)

~*~

Over the course of the next two months, the elevator breaks down a total of sixteen times, twelve of which are caused by Jared and which he fixes about two hours later before he goes to work, and the other four caused by the fact that the elevator is just old and really temperamental. It’s probably a bit excessive but it means that Jared gets to talk to Jensen each and every time. He always spends the rest of the day on a high, despite the fact that Jensen sometimes speaks in monosyllables. The moments when Jensen smiles are the ones that become more special and treasured to Jared.

He endures phone calls from Genevieve, who still lives back in Texas and will be moving up to New York as soon as she can, who listens to him go on and on and on. She tells him, without fail, that Jensen seems arrogant and is a douchebag, but that Jared should ask him out just so he can get it out of his system.

“Jared, he doesn’t even talk to you, just grunts.”

“You’re never there so you don’t know.”

“Oh my God, you tell me everything. In excruciating detail. Puhlease. And I’ve known you for forever, you have a tendency to fall for guys that are dicks because the moments when they’re nice make you feel like you’re a special snowflake.”

That cuts a little close to the bone. 

“No, I don’t – ” 

“Brock,” Genevieve interrupts, voice toneless, “Tyrone, TJ, _Chad_.”

“Genevieve, _please_. Chad was the first guy I ever had a crush on, we were friends and I had just figured out I was gay, he doesn’t even _count_. You know that.”

Her sigh, when it comes, is long and loud, and crackles in Jared’s ear.

“Okay, so he’s like the others. Or maybe he isn’t. But either way, _do_ something about it. It’s not like you to pine like this, you’re usually more active about your crushes.”

Jared stands up, shuffles across the floor of his apartment. He presses his hand against the wall that separates him from Jensen.

“Yeah, well.”

Her sharp intake of breath is all he needs to hear to know that he’s just given himself away.

“Oh Jay, it’s more than a crush. God, when you fall, you fall hard and fast, huh.”

“Yeah,” he breathes out, leaning towards the wall until his forehead meets its surface. He can feel, more than hear, the bass coming from the music playing in Jensen’s apartment. It makes him smile.

“Ah, fuck.”

Genevieve rarely swears. Jared chuckles humourlessly.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Alright, “ Genevieve says determinedly. “Here is what is going to happen. You are going to go over to his apartment door, knock on it, and when he opens it, tell him how you feel. Ask him on a date. And if he says no, then at least he’ll know.”

“Gen.”

“And maybe he’ll say yes, Jay. You’re not doing anybody any favours, yourself most importantly.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“And that stupid thing you’ve been doing to ‘accidentally’ bump into Jensen won’t get you into trouble, because you’ll _stop doing it_. I bet it’s slightly creepy.”

“What thing? And no, it’s not creepy!” Jared squeaks.

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing, but there is something. And of course it’s creepy.” 

Jared can feel Genevieve rolling her eyes at him. He’s known her most of his life, so he can feel these things.

“Yes, okay, it’s fine, I’ll do it, yeah. Once you stop making that face.”

“Mmmmhmmmm. And you’re going now?” she says archly.

“Yup.”

“Good. Call me after. I mean it.”

And then she hangs up. Jared bangs his forehead against the wall and clenches his eyes together tight enough for it to begin to hurt.

“Okay. Okay, I can do this. ‘Screw your courage to the sticking place.’” And then he grins at himself, because having a mother as an English teacher means that he has an appropriate quote for all situations.

He puts his phone on the counter, grabs his key and walks out his door and up to Jensen’s. It takes him a good ten minutes to place his knuckles against the door. 

“If he says no, “Jared says to himself. “If he says no, then he says no. But if he says yes.” And he can’t help the smile that stretches across his mouth of the bloom of warmth in his chest. And he thinks about Jensen’s blushes, about how he shoved his shoulders against Jared’s own, how he thought that Jared was younger than he was and how he seemed pleased when it turned out he was wrong. The note and cookies left by his door.

Maybe.

“Here we go.” And he knocks on Jensen’s door.

It takes a while for Jensen to open the door, but when he does, and when he sees it’s Jared, there’s a smile on his face that makes Jared think, ‘fuck it. Just. Fuck it.’

“So the reason the elevator breaks down is because I keep fiddling with this small piece on the grail so that it won’t work probably. And I time is specifically for when you’re coming in from work so I can walk you up the stairs and then I fix it almost immediately afterwards. Because I like you, a lot, and it makes me do stupid things like purposefully making an elevator not work so I can spend time with you. And that’s probably a bit creepy and idiotic, so I’m sorry about the method, but not the intent behind it.”

Jared’s heart is in his throat, beating so fast he think he might be sick. Jensen is looking at him with wide, wide green eyes.

“I don’t know if you’re into guys, but I’m really into you, and would you like to go on a date with me?”

He reaches out a hand and then jerks it back, blushing. He’s run out of stream and folds in on himself. He can’t get a read on Jensen, but he’ll wait. His heart is there at Jensen’s feet and he can pick it up and tuck it safely away or he can stomp all over it. This is what Jared has offered him. It might not be enough.

“I, I,” Jensen begins and then stalls, licks his lips. Jared is riveted, holding his breath. Jensen takes a step forward.

“I’m difficult.” Jensen snaps his mouth shut, the surprised look telling Jared that it was not what Jensen intended to say. 

“I can be cruel and awkward and viciously sarcastic. So most of the time, the guys I want to, to, to – ” Jensen blushes. “They always give up a few weeks in because I say the wrong things.” He brings a hand up to rub the back of his neck and doesn’t bring his eyes up to meet Jared’s gaze. Jensen grimaces, then takes a deep breath.

“I kept waiting for you to give up and then the elevator would be broken, _again_ , and there you were, not giving up.”

Jared’s mouth drops open. “You knew?”

Jensen rolls his eyes. “You are not subtle. You always showed up on the days that it was broken and your surprised face needs a little work there, buddy.”

Jared holds his hand to his chest, pretending to be horrifically offended. He even does so far to gasp dramatically. “You are a lying liar who lies. I did drama in high school, okay, my surprised face is the stuff of legends. I could totally be an actor and be the lead of a tv show, I’ll have you know.”

Jensen just smiles up at him, his eyes twinkling, and Jared sways forward, unable to resist. They’re silent for a moment, and the air settles around them, heavy and close. They’re standing very close.

“You never answered my question,” Jared breathes.

Jensen reaches up and pulls Jared down into a kiss, soft and gentle.

“Yes, I did,” Jensen answers. 

(Five floors below, Misha grins as down as the security footage shows Jensen pulling Jared into his apartment with a feral grin, as far as Misha can make out. The image is admittedly a little distorted. He pulls another drag on the blunt caught between his fingers and then spins around on his chair.

“Knew they’d be good for each other,” he murmurs lazily.)

(Jared doesn’t call Genevieve back until the next morning and it’s only the briefest of calls, because Jensen is mouthing the back of his neck and they have to continue in Jared’s bedroom. After all, they christened every surface in Jensen’s apartment. It’s only fair they did the same for Jared’s.)


End file.
